Draft National Geospatial Policy

Geospatial World just published the Geospatial Strategy for National Development study.

By the end of 2025, India’s geospatial economy is expected to reach INR 61,000 crores.
The Indian geospatial sector is changing from a services business to a solutions industry, with a greater emphasis on and need for solutions that are appropriate for the problem at hand.
The market is anticipated to rise as a result of factors including agriculture, utilities, land administration, urban development, infrastructure development, and defence and intelligence.

India now boasts the fifth-largest economy in the world after surpassing the United Kingdom in size.
Ten years ago, it had the tenth-largest economy in the world.
From 6.0 percent in 2021 to 3.2 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2023, global growth is expected to decline.
As a result of growing inflation and intense competition in the Indian market, it is anticipated that India’s GDP growth will decelerate from 8.9 percent in 2021 to 6.8 percent in 2022 and 7 percent in 2023.
According to projections, India’s inflation rate will have climbed from 5.50 percent in 2021 to 6.70 percent in 2022 before declining to 5.8 percent in 2023.
The spike in crude oil prices on the global market, rise in commodity costs, supply-chain disruptions, and geopolitical concerns have all contributed to India’s high inflation rate in 2022.
The expected share of India’s total exports and imports of goods and services in its GDP in fiscal year 2022 was almost 46%.
When compared to the national fiscal year of 2021, this ratio increased from 38.2%.
Although exports have increased since 2021, they have slowed in the second half of 2022 as a result of the tightening global trade conditions, rising global and local inflation, high currency volatility, and geopolitical concerns.
In order to dramatically increase India’s exports, the country recently implemented bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), such as those with the UAE and Australia.

The Indian economy has fully recovered to the real GDP level of the pre-pandemic years of 2019–2020, with real GDP growth of about 7% and GD of USD 3.12 trillion in 2022.
With the widespread usage of smartphones and accessible internet connectivity, digital and IT infrastructure is expanding substantially.
Up to 100 percent foreign direct investment may be used to develop and operate satellites through the Department of Space/ISRO.

Well-developed and diverse institutional base for basic and applied geospatial research.

Globally recognised remote sensing programme driven by customer requirements for application development.
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System and the functional indigenous satellite-based augmentation system (GAGAN) (IRNSS).
New entrepreneurs have entered the space ecosystem as a result of the privatisation of space, and they are creating cutting-edge launch vehicles, satellites, propulsion systems, remote sensors, etc.

Widely distributed presence of service and solution suppliers serving both domestic and international demand.
The ability of the sector to deliver and generate spillovers is increased by the local presence of international geospatial technology providers in the Indian market, both for outsourcing and local company development.
Increasing Geospatial Industry Representation through organisations like the Surveying and Mapping Association (SAMA) and the Association of Geospatial Industries (AGI).

The National Geospatial Agencies don’t get enough cash or considerable investment push.
The development of commercial applications needing precision and accuracy is hampered by the lack of a strong geodetic and terrestrial positioning augmentation infrastructure.
Inefficient national and state-level geospatial data infrastructure.

Lack of dynamic and technology-sound tender procurement guidelines, leading to unawarded tenders
Lack of provisions for geospatial SMEs and MSMEs to participate in National Project Bids
Lack of geospatial projects at project planning, designing and implementation levels in sectoral projects
Payment delays in government projects restricts Indigenous companies to cater to the domestic market.

Low exposure to and knowledge of the advantages of geographic information management; a lack of internal technology integration resources and capabilities; and
Lack of knowledge, a well-established IT infrastructure, and adequate human resources
The absence of well-defined strategies and standards for technology deployment; the ineffectiveness of geospatial project formulation capabilities.

The absence of an industrial geospatial development strategy to create a geospatial market and economy that is strong, competitive, and technology-driven.
The absence of domestic manufacture in the area of sensors and equipment (i.e., hardware), which is accompanied by problems with supply, cost, options, regional use conditions, upgrades, etc.
Incidents where business competitors lowered costs to gain contracts, which resulted in a lack of trust between competitors, poor delivery, delays, etc.
Low bids from technology service providers also cause projects to be cancelled. A significant reliance on government contracts for business.
Minimal cooperation between Indian geospatial entities, especially SMEs and MSMEs, and National Geospatial Agencies.

Source—https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/Draft%20NGP%2C%202021.pdf